Monday, March 24, 2008

flickr: The Codextransportica.

Fourth in its series, the MX4 racing sphere swept the nationals three years running before a tragic multi-sphere accident forced its retirement. The MX5 successor, powered by an even larger centrifugal gravity engine, proved unstable and ended the Spherodon Family’s racing dynasty.

Sporting a 300bhp V6 motor driving a tiny rear wheel, this cycle suffered from control problems due to excessive torque. Despite the weight over the drive wheel, it was absurdly easy to break traction. The subsequent loss of forward momentum usually resulted in a crash – and without a boarding gantry, the pilot would be forced to walk home. Even when running properly, a sudden stop could catapult the pilot over the front wheel and into the pavement. Later versions attempted to fix these issues with gyroscopic stabilization, but drivers had learned to distrust the vehicle by this time.